Month: April 2015

I walk down those familiar aisles and take in the familiar smell
Of times and moments past that never will return nor be relived again
Like a distant memory washed away on a lonely shore
Taking the form of a bottle left in the sand – buried and forgotten;

I turn the corner and I can almost see us sitting there giggling
On all those afternoons where we turned obligation into fun
Injecting laughter into boring subjects of dull repetitions
Knowing that at the end of the day we are all in this together;

Yet just as we were about to concretize and come alive again
We vanish at the blink of an eye right before my very eyes
Bringing me back again to the present and to reality
Where what we were stays hidden in the chronicles of time;

Nevertheless I smile at how everything once was
And I’m glad that it all did happen faintly

Once in a distant memory.

(Here is a post dedicated to a special place that I will always remember, a place with memories and good times that I will always cherish. Today I learnt that in life we win some and lose some; tomorrow I will tell you what winning is about.)

(This is in response to some of the things I’ve been seeing recently, things which I don’t feel too easy about. I think people should stop being so judgemental and just, live and let live.)

Holier than thou – that’s what you guys think you are
While you go around passing judgements on people
As well as gossip and spread all kinds of rumours
Based falsely upon your feeble personal opinions;

You speak of individuals with unkind words and speech
Choosing to pick out and magnify all the flaws in them
Seeking to create bad impressions and reputations
For nothing but to satisfy your uncompassionate natures;

Is it not prudent to keep silent when there is nothing good to be spoken?
Is it not unwise to pick out the speck in others with a beam in yours?
Are not those who judge here merely seeking to be judged there?

As if your opinions were even remotely right to begin with:
What gives you the right to be superior to the next so as to criticize?

You know not yet the stories of those whom you’ve spoken against:
You know not yet the power that they wield.

(This post is just me messing around with a love story recently; it’s quite fun I would say. The incongruence at certain points are deliberate to reflect some sort of tension and sarcasm between the two parties. I don’t know, just read and you’ll find out.)

You told me you wanted a set of couple watches for us
To wear together so that each time we look at our wrists
We would be reminded of each other and of our love:
That it is our love which makes moments and time worthwhile;

You said we could wear them when we went out together
Or when we went out separately with our own friends
So that wherever we go and whatever we do
We could see each other in our hearts through our timepieces;

(Really?)

Well I say it is not a great idea because it is far too cliche
Where one of our styles and preferences would be compromised
Simply because it is unlikely that we would like the same watch
Which means one of us would get a watch that is second(s) to us;

I know you think it is romantic and oh so lovey-dovey for us to do it
But fact of the matter I say love need not be expressed to be so:
It is a feeling deep within us that needs no object to symbolise
Nor does it necessitate any material goods on us to actualise;

Okay that is enough – let’s cut to the chase:

We never were that compatible anyway,
So what makes you think we would both like the same watch one day?

(This post is a simple scribble of what I think after reading an online blog post of a girl’s perspective of her breakup where she places the entire blame on the boy for cheating on her. I am not very clear of what transpired in the relationship, but here are just some thoughts on how perhaps it shouldn’t have been this one sided.)

_________________

You claim that in this play for two there entered a third party, someone who lit the place ablaze with a venomous flame of passion and desire and destroyed all that is beautiful;

You accuse your other half of taking her to secret places where he used to take you (and only you) when the play first began, and pointed the finger at him for touching her in places with the fingers he once used to trace your curves and bumps;

You say that his declarations of love to you became false and forced, merely echoes in empty halls of lifeless portraits of happy moments of love which once were real and alive;

You think the reason why he doesn’t love you anymore is that he has found someone with a hotter pair of legs and a firmer set of boobs or maybe even someone with a face prettier than yours.

But all that shouldn’t just be about him:

You never listened to him when he told you that love can sometimes expire without even the faintest hint or the lightest trace of wind if the quarrels persist to tear down the lovely moments of affection and tenderness between the two of you;

You did not try to understand him when he said that he loved you but the forces of incompatibility were too strong for even the strongest set of bonds between the most smitten of hearts;

You could not give him the trust a man needed when he told you there was only you and him in this play of love and that on the stage shared between you and him there really was no one else.

For all that you have thrown at him, he has gone off the stage for good now and the play is over;

All that is left now is a broken heart, a lonely character and an empty scene.. It shouldn’t have been this one sided.

Now that my BMT stint on the perpetually sunny island of Tekong is over, I finally have time to read through my Diary of Tekong Happenings and look back at all the things which made up the good, the bad, and the ugly. Slight lamentations started this military journey on Pulau Tekong, but smiles and heartfelt joy were the parting shots to this little adventure with Scorpion company (yes, it is the company with girls if that is what you are wondering haha).

Many laughable and memorable moments occurred over nine weeks on the island and it would probably take as many weeks if I were to go through them all with you today, and thus I have decided to zoom in on one worthy quote which I think can be applied to life in many different scenarios and circumstances. It was a line thrown at us by our Company Sergeant Major (CSM) – Master Sergeant (MSG) Denash, an Indian gentleman with the true grit of a soldier and the gentle heart of a guiding figure.

It was the day of our first Live Firing session with our rifles, a maiden experience at the Pulau Tekong 100m Live Firing Range where the rifles we mess around with on a daily basis were transformed into the lethal weapons designed to inflict maximum damage and casualty for the purposes of war. We were about to fire live rounds, and with it certainly carried a distinct element of danger and tension. To put it simply, you definitely would not want to accidentally shoot yourself in the foot or fire at your buddy next to you.

When we arrived at the live range, MSG Denash said this:

“I want you to treat every range as if it were your first.”

It certainly sounded like a simple safety command which an experienced sergeant would attempt to warn us to abide by but more than that, this line can be transformed into something useful for all of us to use in our daily lives. You see, if we modify the line to allow “range” to be substitutable with any other experience or activity, it would open up a mindset where we face everything we take up with enthusiasm, passion and seriousness.

For example, if we swap “range” with “tennis match”, it woud be “to treat every tennis match as if it were your first”; if you follow my tread of thought, it would mean that you play every tennis match with the same joy, enthusiasm, seriousness and passion which you had for your first ever game of tennis! Just imagine how wonderful things would be and how great the results could be if we had such a mindset where we wake up each day with the same gratitude, curiosity, innocence and joy which we had when we first came into this world. It definitely would make us happier and more driven individuals, and the list of benefits continue.

There definitely were moments far more significant and quotes far more useful to military life which occurred over the course of nine weeks, but for now I think the quote above would be the one I will share today. I think it is important that we treat every day as a new day and every experience as a new experience so that we do not lose our positive energies to the mundanity of repetition and routine. It is not wrong to say that every experience is what we make of it, and the best should be made of every experience by treating it as if it were the first.